Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Finally done! Since the last update, I finished putting the final bit of decals on and finshed spraying the last parts with topcoat. Just finished up taking a bunch of photos and editing them (had a hard time getting lighting right). Oh right, I also decided to paint the head armor dark blue instead of white. Not sure what the correct colors are (although it came molded in white) but I think the darker color suits it more (like Deathscythe Hell). As noted before, the dark blue (which looks pretty much like black with the flat finish) still looks a little rough, but that's due to the mica part of the paint. A couple more layers of topcoat did help to smooth it out, and it looks different (better) in person than in photos. Oh, also got an acrylic plastic base thing... reflective!

All the armor pieces have a flat finish, while the inner frame, and all grey pieces, are gloss coated. I think I'll keep this convention with all future kits, the texture contrast is kind of interesting.

Detail of shoulder and backpack:

On the topic of shoulders and arms, the pegs that connect the body to the arms is a little short. While trying to move the arms around, they usually just pop off the peg, which is pretty annoying for posing. Not sure if this just for my kit since the joints are a little stiffer from the paint, or if it's a general problem. To avoid it, it's a lot easier to just take the arm off to pose it (it's easy enough to take on and off).

Buster Shield:

As you can see, the pincers open and close (kept symmetrical with a gear). The shield fits onto the arm with a pretty solid peg, there's no chance of it falling off, and it's not too heavy such that the arms sags. The beam effect part, which I gave one coat of clear green, fits pretty snug, it's not going to fall out either.

As you probably know, this kit employs the use of hand parts switching. There are basically three sets: closed fist, open fingers, and hands to hold the scythe. I suppose it makes sense for a small kit, but I wish they just made smaller versions of Gundam 2.0 hands (the ones with individual moving fingers).

Beam Scythe:

Can be mounted on the backpack with an extra part:

Holding the scythe is a bit of a hassle since the hand pegs doesn't work well at all points on the length of the scythe. The plastic has bowed out a little so that the area in the middle is not snug enough for the peg, while the areas at the top and bottom hold the peg firmly. It's not a game breaker though, since the thumb still does a pretty good job holding it in place. Sorry for the awkward scythe poses, not really sure what wielding it should look like...

Yeah, it's possible to get the scythe in both hands, but it'll definitely take a while to get it right (although, maybe it was just me failing). With the beam effect part in, the scythe can be a little heavy and the arm can sag a little in certain positions.

Dual wielding!

Ah, haven't really talked about the legs or feet. For the most part, they're pretty stable, no loose joints or anything (although all my joints are painted). Wide stances can be a little hard to pose, just have to make sure its balanced well, but that's to be expected. The feet are large enough to keep the model balanced when just standing. Overall, good leg design, probably my favorite part of the kit. Spikes!

As I said earlier, the head sensors do a good job lighting up when back lit. Since I'm not going to just leave a lamp on behind it all the time, I probably won't see this light up effect much, but I bet a base with an LED or something could be thrown together.

Finally, a size comparison with RX-72-2:

It's definitely on the smaller side of the MS spectrum, but it's not tiny either. Pretty sure all the Gundam Wing suits are about this size.

So that's it! First entirely painted kit. As I've mentioned, I wanted to try this method out since I felt like bare plastic models, while top coated, were a little bare or not unique. While I mostly kept the same color scheme, all the shades are a little tweaked: The dark blue is darker, the white is brighter, the red and yellow are darker, and the grey is darker and metallic. It was also the first time using acrylic thinned down as a panel liner. Overall it worked pretty well, but there weren't too many lines to test it on. The paint I used (Tamiya TS sprays) was glossy so I had to use more flat finish than usual. It was definitely a learning experience, but I think I'll continue this method for future kits and maybe redoing my other kits (the ones without decals yet (Sinanju)). This is probably my favorite work yet!

Nice. I have the same idea with the head whenever I start on this model. It looks more fitting than the white head that sticks out on a black upper body. The shoulders still look a bit rough but definitely an improvement from before. You could (re)watch Gundam Wing to get some ideas for posing with the scythe :). I'm looking forward to swinging mine around... haha.

Thanks Z! Yeah, looking forward to seeing your review of the kit. The shoulders aren't so noticeable in person, I like how they turned out in the end! Haha, I afraid to say I haven't even finished the Gundam Wing series. I should probably get on that!